Toronto, Seattle play to scoreless draw

SEATTLE (STATS) - Dwayne De Rosario was delighted to come out of
the game with a point.

Freddie Ljungberg was disappointed - even disgusted - to do
likewise.

Toronto's De Rosario and Seattle's Ljungberg each had their
share of near-misses Saturday, and no one found the back of the
net as Toronto FC and the Sounders played to a 0-0 tie.

Toronto (8-8-7), in the middle of a three-game road stretch,
bounced back from a 2-0 loss at Chivas last Saturday. The
expansion Sounders (8-6-10) have gone three straight games and
314 minutes overall without scoring at home.

"It was just one of those days," said De Rosario, who had four
of Toronto's 11 shots but was kept off the board for the second
straight game after a four-game goal streak. "At the end of the
day, you take the point. And hopefully, we can go on to Colorado
(next Saturday) and win there. If you get four points in three
road games, we'll be just fine."

For Ljungberg, last Sunday's come-from-behind 1-1 tie at
MLS-leading Houston was a much better effort than the one the
Sounders put forth at home Saturday against the third-place team
from the Eastern Conference.

"We played so well in Houston, and we were looking forward to
today," Ljungberg said. "We created some chances at the end
(including point-blank try of his own during second-half
stoppage time that was stopped by Stefan Frei). But I would say
it's disappointing that we tied the game. We want to win at
home, and you're always (ticked) off when you draw."

Toronto, which took 13 shots but put none on goal last week at
Chivas, had five shots that nearly went into the Seattle net
during the opening half.

In the third minute, a long distribution downfield by Frei found
De Rosario. He got behind the Sounders defense into the penalty
area, went one-on-one with goalkeeper Kasey Keller and had a
wide-open net from six yards, but poked his shot wide to the
right.

In the ninth minute, De Rosario had another try from the top of
the box, but headed one wide left. In the 22nd minute, Chad
Barrett headed a perfectly placed De Rosario target ball just
wide left from the top of the box.

One minute after that, Amado Guevara's shot from inside the top
left corner of the box bounced off the far side of the crossbar.

Sam Cronin had a one-on-one try against Keller near the end of
the first half, but sent his shot wide right.

"The first half was the best 45 minutes we have played," Toronto
interim coach Chris Cummins said. "We had a lot of chances in
the first half, we're just unlucky. I thought we had legs today,
we had energy, and the tactics we set out there were good."

Ljungberg gave Seattle two prime scoring opportunities during
the first 45 minutes. One shot from the top of the box was
stopped on a diving save by Frei in the 26th minute. Near the
end of the 41st, Ljungberg lofted a free kick toward the top of
the arc for Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, whose header was barely wide
of the left post.

Ljungberg then had two shots within two minutes midway through
the second half that were on target. The first was deflected
over the top, and the second flew just wide of the far post.

Seattle has gone 1-3-3 in its last seven games.

"I thought we were lucky to go into halftime 0-0," said Sounders
coach Sigi Schmid, whose team will play at D.C. United in the
U.S. Open Cup final Wednesday. "The second half was better. We
had two chances - I wouldn't say to win - but we had to chances
to steal it at the end.

"I'm actually a little bit happy we got a point, because we
could have walked away with nothing."